GREENEVILLE, TN—Timothy Edward Lindstrom, 56, of Jonesborough, Tenn., pleaded guilty on December 6, 2011, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee at Greeneville, to the knowing receipt of child pornography. The Honorable J. Ronnie Greer, U.S. District Judge, remanded Lindstrom to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service pending his sentencing, set for May 21, 2012, at 9:00 a.m.

Lindstrom faces a minimum term of five years and a maximum term of 20 years in prison; a maximum fine of $250,000; a maximum of lifetime supervised release; restitution and forfeiture of the instrumentalities of the offense; and a $100 special mandatory assessment.

Lindstrom waived his right to indictment and entered a written plea agreement to an information. According to documents filed with the U.S. District Court in Greeneville, Lindstrom received more than 7,000 still images and 21 videofiles of child pornography at his home in Jonesborough, Tenn., from 2006 until February 2011. In 2006, Lindstrom retired as a Captain in the U.S. Navy after 29 years of service. He then served as an Executive Vice-President of Nuclear Fuels Service in Erwin, Tenn., as Director of Nuclear Operations until November 2010.

“These cases are disturbing, but the United States will continue to prosecute whoever is violating these laws and subjecting our children to these illegal influences,” said U.S. Attorney Bill Killian. “Fortunately, the efforts of the FBI and Assistant U.S. Attorney Helen Smith resulted in this conviction,” added Killian.

This prosecution was the result of an investigation by the FBI. Helen Smith, Assistant U.S. Attorney, represented the United States.

This case was brought as part of Project Safe Childhood, a nationwide initiative to combat the growing epidemic of child sexual exploitation and abuse launched in May 2006 by the Department of Justice. Led by United States Attorneys’ Offices and the Criminal Division’s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), Project Safe Childhood marshals federal, state and local resources to better locate, apprehend and prosecute individuals who exploit children via the Internet, as well as to identify and rescue victims. For more information about Project Safe Childhood, please visit www.projectsafechildhood.gov .

Timothy E. Lindstrom, age not immediately available, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Greeneville to a possession of child pornography charge, records show.

Lindstrom is not only a retired Navy captain but also served as an executive in the Nuclear Fuel Services firm in Erwin, Tenn. According to the firm's website, it is a subsidiary of Babcock & Wilcox Nuclear Operations Group in Lynchburg, Va., and manufactures nuclear fuel for the Navy's fleet of nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and submarines.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Helen Smith wrote in a plea agreement filed Tuesday that Lindstrom lives in Jonesborough, Tenn. At some point, he bought a monthly subscription to an "online newsgroup" and downloaded various applications used to read and search newsgroup files, Smith wrote.

"The combination of these features allowed (Lindstrom) to search for and receive files from other computer users via the Internet," Smith wrote.

Beginning in January 2006, Lindstrom began using that capability to surf for child pornography, Smith alleged.

"When he located and received images of minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, the defendant downloaded the images and saved them to electronic folders labeled with the screen name of the child depicted or the Internet source of the images," the agreement stated.

Lindstrom's cache of more than 7,000 still photographs and 21 videofiles was discovered in February, according to the plea agreement.

Former Nuclear Fuel Services vice president sentenced to five years for downloading child pornography

GREENEVILLE — A former Navy captain and vice president of Nuclear Fuel Services of Erwin was sentenced to five years in federal prison on Monday for downloading more than 7,000 images of child pornography from the Internet.

Timothy Edward Lindstrom, 57, received the 60-month prison sentence in U.S. District Court in Greeneville on Monday. Judge Ronnie Greer also imposed a $15,000 fine on Lindstrom and ordered him to be on supervised release for life.

The prison sentence and fine constitute the minimum amount Greer could impose on Lindstrom.

Lindstrom pleaded guilty to the charge in December 2011 and faced up to 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000. Prosecutors had recommended a prison sentence of 97 to 121 months.

Lindstrom retired in 2006 as a captain in the U.S. Navy after 29 years of service, then served as the director of nuclear operations at NFS until November 2010.

According to court records, Lindstrom received more than 7,000 images and 21 videos of child pornography at his home from 2006 through February 2011.

Prosecutors say Lindstrom gave his desktop computer to an assistant at NFS as a gift in August 2010, and the assistant sold the computer to another co-worker, who then found the child pornography images. The computer was eventually given to the NFS legal staff, which delivered it to the FBI for examination.

The FBI found 592 images and eight videos of child pornography on the computer, along with more than 500,000 images of child erotica that do not meet the statutory definition of child pornography, child pornography sex stories in narrative form, and child sex cartoons.

Court records state the FBI then obtained a search warrant for the defendant’s new Apple iMac computer, and a forensic examination yielded 6,983 images and 13 videos of child pornography, along with 1.3 million images of child erotica.

Some of Lindstrom’s child rape videos exceed five minutes and included very young victims and victims in bondage, court records state. During the investigation, 11 different victims were identified within the material by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

“These cases are disturbing, but the United States will continue to prosecute whoever is violating these laws and subjecting our children to these illegal influences,” said U.S. Attorney Bill Killian.

Johnson City attorney Richard Pectol — who represented Lindstrom — argued in a sentencing memorandum that from the moment Lindstrom learned of the investigation, he cooperated completely with law enforcement, admitting to downloading child pornography and promptly negotiated a plea agreement.

Prosecutors say Lindstrom used a fee-based online news subscription service to download large quantities of files and later mined them for child sex images. In addition, Lindstrom used a newsgroup reader and special search application to surf for and filter through the material.

“Lindstrom is a sophisticated child porn collector who would never have been detected if he had not given his old computer to the assistant at NFS,” court records state.

During the course of his career, Lindstrom was the commander of the USS Maine submarine, worked in the Pentagon for five years, and was commander of Submarine Squadron 20 of Kings Bay, Ga. Lindstrom received a number of citations, medals and commendations during his career in the U.S. Navy, including five Navy Commendation Medals, two Navy Meritorious Service Medals, three Legions of Merit, the Defense Superior Service Medal, and the National Defense Service Medal.